Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke will take the stage Friday night for the first and only debate of the campaign. The event will be held at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.
O'Rourke had pushed for more debates, but Gov. Abbott agreed to only one face-to-face meeting.
TCU Political Science Professor James Riddlesperger predicts both sides will use the setting near the Texas-Mexico border to highlight their immigration policies.
"Of course, that's the hot bed of immigration issues," Dr. Riddlesperger said, "and also the hot bed of the big fight these days in Texas politics, which is over the Latino vote."
Riddlesperger also believes O'Rourke will used the debate to highlight his positions on abortion rights and gun control, which tend to find support in major urban areas.
"What has happened over the last 20 years is...we've seen the Democratic Party become the party of the urban areas, and the Republican party be the party of rural areas," he said. "In order for the Republicans to be successful in Texas they need to get very high turnout in rural areas, and of course the opposite is true for Democrats - they need to get very high turnout in urban areas. That has become kind of the battle not only in Texas but nation-wide."
Election day in Texas is November 8th. Early voting starts on Monday, October 24, 2022.
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